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Friday Face-Off: Diamonds

Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.

I was initially having a lot of trouble trying to come up with a book that fits this theme, but then I looked through my collection of books and remembered this Crichton classic. It’s been a while since I read it, but as I recall, it began with an expedition into the dense rain forests of the Congo Basin. And right before the entire team was massacred by unknown creatures, what were they looking for? That’s right–diamond deposits! I held my breath and did some image searches, and sure enough, there were several editions featuring covers with diamonds on them.

In fact, originally published in 1980, the book has since been released in many countries by many publishers and has been adapted into a film. There were so many covers available that it would have been impossible to post them all here, so here’s just a small sample of the dozens I’ve found. Below is a gallery of international covers from all around the world, followed by a selection of English editions.

Winner:

Picking a favorite among so many unique covers was tough! But in the end, I went with this one featuring the towering ruins of a lost city hidden in the thick vegetation of the rain forest. I chose it for the forbidding sense of mystery and tension it conveys, but what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

20 Comments on “Friday Face-Off: Diamonds”

Ooh fun! I’ve only seen the movie but I love stories about lost cities and all that. I think I would pick the same one, for the same reason! And my runner u would be the similar one with the orange cover. Lost cities always get me.

Such a wide range of covers! I’m a sucker for a monkey face so I love the Japanese and Portuguese covers best. The Chinese one would give you nightmares! The book and film were ok but a bit too slow for me.

I’m actually kind of partial to the Knopf version for some reason. And even though it looks like a comic book, the Portugese version is cool as well. It really is a hard decision. I liked the movie well enough but have ever picked up a Crichton book.

I really like the cover you picked as well, but the Chinese cover is pretty cool, although scary! I’m pretty sure I’ve read this, and probably have a copy (I know that sounds weird but when you own thousands of books that you’ve collected over…many years, sometimes it’s hard to remember them all).

Haha – how on earth did you come up with this one. I found this such a tough weak – hoping ‘aliens’ will be a good deal easier!
Nice pick and a huge selection of covers. I like your choice – I also like the Chinese cover – although it definitely is scary!
Lynn 😀

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Welcome to The BiblioSanctum! A Book Blog for Speculative Fiction, Graphic Novels... and more! Steff (Mogsy), Tiara and Wendy are proud moms, geeks, gamers and bibliophiles. We're always reading and yet, there never seem to be enough books! Our Goodreads lists are an eclectic assortment of genres -- and we love to share our thoughts. The BiblioSanctum is a home for our absolute love of reading.